Las Vegas says Kansas City Chiefs are a good bet to miss playoffs
By Matt Conner
If you think Vegas insiders know something that others don’t, then you won’t like what they are predicting for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Forget the consecutive AFC West titles. You can also take the four postseason appearances in the last five years and shove them, too. Las Vegas says Andy Reid’s sixth year in the NFL is going to be a forgettable one, a transition year that will keep them out of the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
The latest odds are Oddshark are out as to whether or not teams are favored to make the playoffs, and the Chiefs are a much safer bet taking the outsider view. The Chiefs are listed as +120 to make the playoffs and -150 to miss the playoffs placing them behind familiar faces who you’d expect them to battle for postseason positioning.
Other AFC teams who are actually favored to make the playoffs include: Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, L.A. Chargers, New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. From there, it’s a wild card (pun intended) to settle the sixth and final spot among several teams who have the odds stacked against them.
To explain how the numbers work, everything is based on a $100 bet. It’s not that you have to bet that much, but that is how the proportions or percentages are derived. A positive sign means that you would make that much money if you bet $100. A negative sign means you would have to pay that amount in order to make $100. In our given example, if you bet $100 on the Chiefs to miss the playoffs, you’d make $120 on that bet if it came true. On the flip side, you’d have to pony up $150 in order to make a $100 profit if they miss the playoffs—reason being that Vegas expects them to do just that.
Next. The Chiefs still have a coverage problem. dark
In short, Las Vegas doesn’t believe in Patrick Mahomes in the short-term. Vegas oddsmakers might also have a problem with a team that trades away Marcus Peters or a complete defensive remake that still seems to have major holes. If anything, the team can use this as a rallying point, that despite the talent and track record, Andy Reid and company are once again being doubted all around the NFL—even in betting circles.